Justice Sotomayor’s ICE Dissent

Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a rebuke in response to the Supreme Court's ruling permitting immigration stops in Los Angeles. Sotomayor, the first Latina on the court, dissented after the court’s conservative majority lifted a federal district judge’s order that blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles from stopping people based on their looks, the language they speak and where they work.

These so-called “roving patrols” have disproportionately targeted Latinos, who make up nearly half of the city’s population.

“The Government … has all but declared that all Latinos, U. S. citizens or not, who work low wage jobs are fair game to be seized at any time, taken away from work, and held until they provide proof of their legal status to the agents’ satisfaction,” Sotomayor wrote.

"We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent."

With the ruling, the Supreme Court removed that any barriers, essentially allowing agents to detain people who are speaking Spanish or gathered at a day laborer site. The court’s order did not explain its reasoning.

“They are seizing people using firearms, physical violence, and warehouse detentions. Nor are undocumented immigrants the only ones harmed by the Government’s conduct,” Sotomayor said. “United States citizens are also being seized, taken from their jobs, and prevented from working to support themselves and their families.”

Sotomayor added that the court's order was troubling for another reason.

“It is entirely unexplained,” she said. “In the last eight months, this Court’s appetite to circumvent the ordinary appellate process and weigh in on important issues has grown exponentially.”

To read Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissent and the opinions of other members of the the Supreme Court, please click here.